The Blacklist Season 10 Episode 18 Review: Wormwood

That was very emotional.

The Blacklist Season 10 Episode 18 took us back to the regular blacklist with a case about an elusive blacklister who targeted Raymond and his associates.

Events took place on two fronts as Raymond tried to get to warring families to declare peace while Arthur Hudson recruited someone unexpected and expected at the same time.

Raymond’s campaign for doing good continued, and it wasn’t a surprise that he would offer to mediate talks between two families where he stood to gain nothing significant in return.

The best that could happen was that the two sides would stop fighting, and more blood would not be shed, which was good enough for Raymond.

At this time in our lives, Harlod, all I want is as many reminders of the good and beauty this world has to offer.

Reddington

It would be an uphill task to reconcile two groups with hate taught to them for decades, if not hundreds of years. No one was better equipped to handle it than Raymond. With his reputation that always precedes him, his masterful use of language, and an almost inexhaustible source of information, he was the prime candidate.

Yet he would never get to use these skills to the scale he expected because a blacklister struck again.

If you watch The Blacklist online, you must have seen hundreds of blacklisters, and it is always fun when a new one is introduced whose ingenuity or depravity knows no bounds. And for Wormwood was both ingenious and depraved.

Everyone appeared shocked when people started dropping dead, and were it not for the fact that there were no guns in that meeting, the poison would not have had to do anything.

The future is in the hands of the younger generation. While the old guard was dead, they had spent their entire lives painting a negative picture of the other side, and it wasn’t surprising that Izan was always looking for a way to continue the Sandoval versus Montano feud.

On the other hand, Michael was level-headed, looking towards the future that didn’t constitute bloodshed and looking over someone’s shoulder.

It took me some time to catch on, but this whole affair between the Montanos and the Sandovals was a nod to the classic Shakespearean tale of Romeo and Juliet.

In fact, it was not until Herbie and Ressler spoke about the book club that it all became clear.

Herbie: Two warring families? Poison? Murder? This case is straight out of my book club.
Ressler: Wait, you’re in a book club that’s reading Romeo and Juliet?
Harbie: No. Dune.

And like the stupid Romeo and Juliet, who took extreme measures to ensure they got their way, Gabriela killed everyone else so she could end up with Michael.

Sometimes you have to be amazed by the sheer stupidity young people display when they place feelings over logic. Like how did you come up with that?

But I guess growing up in a family such as the Sandoval one, where everyone is ready to go to extremes over something mundane, must have rubbed off on her.

What was impressive was that Michael was the only person with a level head in that room.

Maybe the story was not similar to Romeo and Juliet’s because he did the right thing. He saw the immorality in Gabriella’s act, and instead of offering The Holy Palmers Kiss she wanted, he called her out on it.

Here’s to hoping that the peace brokered by Michael and Izan lasts forever.

Elsewhere, Arthur got to Pritchard.

Nothing on The Blacklist happens without reason, and in our The Blacklist Season 10 Episode 11 spoilers post, I was convinced that something peculiar was happening with Jonathan.

Even if he didn’t have bad motives when he joined the NA meeting and got sponsored by Ressler, he would be instrumental somehow.

It can’t be insignificant to pair up two people in law enforcement dealing with the same problem.

Ressler has control over most aspects of his life but has never been confident in his ability to be objective regarding his addiction.

And it’s weaknesses like these that people manipulate.

It’s unclear what Pritchard does in the US government, but how he framed the questions while interrogating Ressler was odd. It was as if he knew that Liz was Ressler’s soft spot, and if he had approached that situation in any other way, Ressler would have caught on.

The best way to change or take down a system is from the inside, and Arthur seemed to be doubling down on it. He found an FBI agent on The Blacklist Season 10, Episode 17, and now he had a direct line to Ressler through Jonathan.

Arthur: You asked him (Ressler) about Elizabeth?
Jonathan: I did. Even after he told me about their connection, I didn’t wanna believe what you said about him was true. But the more I looked into who Agent Keen was … She killed the Attorney General. She was a fugitive with Reddington.
Arthur: We need to pull it down, and we need to do it now. And I can’t do that without your help.
Jonathan: What do you need me to do?

Jonathan’s decision to betray his friend is not black and white yet because, on the one hand, he has a job to do, but on the other, Ressler saved him from almost certain death.

As The Blacklist series finale closes in, some important questions came up from events in this episode.

Wormwood was a fairly new player in this game. That showed that the world needed the Task Force, and their work was important. Never will there not be awful people in the world, and good people are needed to counter their effects.

Yet again, Raymond had been playing it fast and loose with his safety, putting his life in danger more than once. What were the writers planning on doing with him?

As far as I can see, Raymond may not survive Arthur Hudson. And if he does, he can’t continue operating normally.

Of all the precautions you’ve taken over the years to survive, suddenly you’re OK with putting your life in the hands of pure dumb luck. Why?

Cooper

With Red gone, where will the cases come from? No one else has the kind of knowledge Raymond has about the players in the criminal world.

When Red meets his fate, will this end the list?

“Wormwood” was at par with the recent episodes where Raymond served the greater good without gaining anything in return. A great blacklist case elevated it.

Over to you, The Blacklist Fanatics. What did you think?

Is Raymond’s time on Earth coming to an end? Are you ready to say goodbye to the blacklist and its blacklisters?

Let us know in the comments section.

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Denis Kimathi is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on Twitter.

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